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Hispalco s.a. has been exporting fruit and vegetables to the European markets for over 20 years. Its brand Monna Lisa is known on the market as a quality brand of high prestige. “Her mysterious smile is a symbol and guarantee of quality, service and exclusivity. This challenge is difficult to control in these times, but we have made our position in the market and continue to grow,” says manager Jose Beltran.

The commercial department and quality controllers at Hispalco work with the producers every day to get the best results. After the success of Monna Lisa the company started their second brand Unicorn a number of years ago to serve a larger customer base.

At the moment the company is also working hard to strengthen the organic branch with the brand Hispalco Bio by creating a new product line, which distinguishes itself from the conventional line. These product have been grown 100% organically, and are organically certified.

The season of stone fruit, melons and watermelons is now in full swing. The company has also started selling cherries and grapes from Puglia and Sicily under the brands Gioconda and Unicorn. “The best plantations and varieties can be found in these regions of Italy. We will also offer French peaches and nectarines from Langedouc and Rousillon in the sizes A and AA from the end of July, also under the exclusive brands Unicorn and La Joconde, to offer the customers a quality products, as opposed to one Spanish variety with an increasingly low supply.”

Hispalco supports the idea of exporting more Piel de Sapo melons, as they are becoming increasing valued in the European markets. “With a sweeter and juicer flesh and longer shelf life the Piel de Sapo is a great product with added value,” says Jose Beltran. When we ask the manager of Hisplaco what the secret behind the success is, he answers; “There is no secret or magic potion. It’s a matter of hard work, remaining constant and being surrounded by people who share the same values and prove this by never losing their entrepreneurial spirit.”

Three years after one of the most deadly outbreaks involving fresh produce in U.S. history, reports at the state and local level are pointing to the existence of a widespread Salmonella outbreak that may involve berries or melons.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declined opportunities to comment on these reports, and a spokesman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (CORE) network said they “have not been involved in an investigation of a Salmonella outbreak linked to melons or berries.”

The spokesman said that outbreak investigations typically begin with CDC working with the state and local health departments, and then, when a regulated product is identified, FDA gets involved.

Three years ago in July, there was a deadly Listeria outbreak caused by contaminated cantaloupe grown in southeastern Colorado. That outbreak sickened 147 people in 28 states, resulting in 33 immediate deaths and another 10 who died in the aftermath. A woman who was pregnant at the time of her illness also suffered a miscarriage.

On Monday, the first report of an eight-state Salmonella outbreak possibly involving berries or melons came not from any federal or state food safety officials, but from a local health department director in Michigan.

Steve Todd, who heads the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Counties Community Health Agency, told local media outlets that a Salmonella outbreak at the Reading Summer Festival Days during the last week of July was a “cluster” in the larger outbreak.

Todd said his agency had 12 laboratory-confirmed cases stemming from the festival and several other secondary cases involving family members of those sickened.

Only a tiny percentage of the fresh fruit and produce reaching the U.S. market is ever tested before it is consumed. Todd said CDC had told his agency that the Michigan outbreak was a sub-cluster in the larger multi-state outbreak.

At about the same time, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said it was investigating nine cases of Salmonella poisoning in Beaufort County, SC, that the agency said matched a national cluster of Salmonella. The first of those reports came in Sept. 19, but it’s not clear when the first onset of the illnesses occurred.

South Carolina health officials declined to provide more information on that state’s nationally connected Salmonella cases, saying that the investigation is ongoing.

This summer saw only one major fresh produce recall. It was from the Wawona Packing Company of Cutler, CA, over a testing sample that came back positive for Listeria. There was great consumer interest in that major recall, but no related illnesses were ever confirmed by laboratory analysis.

Berries, melons, and other fresh fruit are rarely tested before they hit the market, where they are sold and quickly consumed. That can make finding unconsumed contaminated fresh fruits a very difficult task.

The testing that resulted in the Wawona recall was actually done by a foreign government testing product being imported into that country.

For several years, USDA had a program with participating states to randomly test fresh produce. It was called the Microbiological Data Program, or MDP, and, during its run, MDP did about 80 percent of the fresh produce testing that was done in the U.S. for less than $ 5 million a year.

Congress and the White House, at the behest of the politically powerful fresh fruit and vegetable industry, killed MDP two growing seasons ago. FDA did step up its fresh fruit and produce testing after MDP’s demise. It conducted 7,592 unique sample tests in 2013, up from 5,882 tests in 2011 and 5,174 tests in 2012, according to figures the agency provided to Food Safety News.

While their testing levels varied widely, the 10 state labs affiliated with MDP were testing 10,000 to 15,000 unique samples each growing season. That’s the data that are no longer available for any outbreak investigations that might be underway.

Lean van den Hombergh, Frankort & Koning:“A lot of overlap in European and Brazilian melons over the next few weeks”

The Brazilian melon season is coming slowly but surely. Frankort & Koning expect the first arrivals on Friday, after which the numbers will increase weekly. Commercial director Leon van den Hombergh expects a difficult start to the season. “There are a number of melons on the field in Spain. Prices of around a dime per kilo are being made and the qualities vary strongly. We won’t compete with Brazilian melons in price, so it will have to be done in quality.”

“Spain can mainly continue with yellow melons and watermelons for a while, but there are also quite a few Galia and Cantaloupe available. I expect an overlap until around week 37/38 and it will be even later for yellow melons and watermelons, depending on the quality,” says Leon. “The mediocre weather recently has meant a disappointing consumption. Spain has harvest the largest reserves. The Spanish melons also aren’t allowed into Russia, so there is enough left to be marketed.”

“The factor with the largest influence on the melon market is still the weather. it wasn’t to our advantage over the last few weeks, but if the weather cooperates, we know we can sell a lot, despite the large supply. The week has started with sun, which gives consumers hope. We need good weather to get the melon feeling back. But we know this is a challenge. Brazil has a strong production and the first few weeks will be tough, especially now that there is a lot of cheap alternative fruit on the market.”

Supply of melons is plentiful at the moment. “The beautiful spring has led to very successful yields, causing a number of countries to go to market at the same time. All those countries are vying for the favour of the European consumer. Spain is competing with Italy, Italy with Morocco, and there are still some leftovers of overseas production on the market. At some point the market will then be saturated, and a push will be needed to market the large influx of melons,” says Leon van den Hombergh of Frankort & Koning.

“Sales are good, but the volumes that have been supplied are so big, that the market is coming under some pressure. And with fruit it’s very straightforward. When the weather isn’t that sunny, consumption drops. And it’s doing so quite rapidly at the moment,” Leon says. “We only really saw a summery blip around Pentecost, just at a time when the shops were closed. The current below 20°C temperatures are too low to stimulate melon consumption.”

“The price pressure goes for all varieties, although watermelons react most strongly to weather conditions. This also has consequences for the sale of stonefruit, soft fruit, and top fruit. At the moment, melon prices are between 3 and 5 Euro for 5 kg, and those aren’t prices that make growers happy,” Leon concludes. “The good thing is that if the weather improves, the market can revive as well, just like that. That would be right on time too, because before you know it, the ‘small gardens’ in countries like Hungary and Poland will be starting production again.”

The recent food-borne disease outbreaks related to the consumption of melons have marked the importance to understand the growth kinetics of Listeria monocytogenes in fresh-cut melons.

US scientists have carried out a study on cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon. Fruits were purchased from a local supermarket (Winter Haven, FL), stored at 4°C, and brought to 23°C prior to start the experiment. The whole fruits were disinfected by immersion in a solution of 200 ppm chlorine, then they were minimally processed and cut into 10±1 g cubed pieces (flesh only).

Afterwards, cubes were inoculated with a four-strain cocktail of L. monocytogenes, resulting in ca. 103 CFU/10g sample; the samples were stored at 4, 10, 15, 10 and 25 ±2 °C, and the enumeration of pathogens was performed at specific time intervals

The pathogen growth rate increased as the storage temperature increased.

The scientists have used the square root model to describe the L. monocytogenes growth rate as a function of temperature. The model has been compared to other prior mathematical models used both for Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7 detection and for the predictive microbiology on L. monocytogenes kinetics (ComBase).

An increase of 4 log CFU after 15 days of storage at 5°C, and of 1 log CFU after 6 days of storage at 4°C.

The developed model resulted accurate in predicting L. monocytogenes growth in cut melons, and it may be a fast and cost-effective alternative to lab methods to estimate the effects of storage temperature on the pathogen kinetics.

Itaueira Farms, the Brazilian producer of the premium “REI” brand Canary melon, will introduce a new fresh-cut line of the product at the Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition, Oct. 18-20 in New Orleans.

This marks the sixth year that Itaueira and its North American marketing agent, Crown International USA, will be promoting the melons at the Fresh Summit, and the PMA Fresh Summit has been a big reason for the rise in popularity of the melon, according to Itaueira Farms President Carlos Prado.

“We have had five years of experience [at PMA Fresh Summit] and we have made a lot of good contacts and friends,” said Prado. “We hope to increase volume [shipped to the United States] by 80 percent this year, and PMA is a big part of it.”

In past years at PMA Fresh Summit, Itaueira and Crown International distributed samples of the melons to trade show attendees and to participants of the PMA Foundation for Industry Talent’s 5k Race for Talent. The samples were so well received that more than 7,000 cups of the melon samples were distributed during the two-day expo in 2012.

The strong reception of the fruit prompted company officials to explore a fresh-cut offering.

“We have been exhibiting for five years, so now many people are familiar with our melons,” said Fred Tavares of Crown International USA, which is based in Key Biscayne, FL. “The new line is the same great-tasting melon in a more user-friendly format. We decided that we wanted to provide a product that is ready to eat so people could take it with them, for example to a park.”

Melons will be shipped whole from Brazil and received in Vineland, NJ, and Montreal and Toronto, said Tavares. Whole melons will be processed once an order is made, to ensure freshness of the final product. The fresh-cut melons will be available in one- and two-pound clamshells.

The first Brazilian yellow melons arrived at Staay-Hispa in mid-August, followed by the Galia, Cantaloupe and water melons in week 36 and 37. “More was shipped out in week 36, but ‘overall’ it is expected that the volumes will be in line with those of last year, ” says commercial manager Fred Rennen. “The sales are very good, especially for Galia and Cantaloupe melons. The sales of watermelons are slightly more difficult.”

“Despite there being a good supply of yellow melons from Spain in August, we played into the demand of a number of customers to start importing yellow melons from Brazil, continues Fred.” “At the moment the European supply is a lot lower and the buyers want a new harvest of melons. The quality of the Brazilian melons is good for all varieties.”

The importer expects a relatively few shift in the area of variety. “The breeding company continue to do many tests, especially with Galias but it can take a number of years before there varieties are ready for use.” Staay-Hispa markets the melons all over Europe under the brands Mossoro, Samba and Brazil. The company is not using the so-called ‘cross trade shipping’, in which they ship directly to different continents. “The Brazilians know their own way to export markets, but there’s no foreseeing the futures,” says Fred.

With the integration of Hispa and Van Rijn to the Staay Food Group, the group now has more sales possibilities. “We have adapted our programmes to this. With Van Rijn added to the group, we have gained even more clout, and I have great expectations of this,” says the commercial manager.

Due to the good local market, the Brazilian producers can sell more produce in their own country. Yet Fred doesn’t see the product availability as a threat in the short term. “Watermelons and yellow melons are available all year round and the Galias and Cantaloupes are mainly available for the European market. Considering the available area it would be easy to produce more. But the labour factor is becoming more difficult to fill in Brazil and we have to deal with higher sea transport and production costs. The product will have to make more money than last year.”

Besides Brazilian melons, Staay-Hispa also has a programme with Israeli Galia melons of Edmon from week 38 to 46. “We are also planning for the Costa Rica season at the moment. The preparations for this are in full swing at SFG-Dulce,” concludes Fred.

The European melon season had a slow start because of bad weather conditions in Spain. “As a result production had a difficult start resulting in high prices till the end of July. But everything we did not have then we have received now,” Leon van den Hombergh of Frankort & Koning says. “In the next four weeks there will be a sufficient supply of melons. When a truck loadhas been sold the next one is already at the door.”

“The Galia, Cantaloupe and watermelons are available in large quantities,” Leon says. “Watermelons,are also offered from Italy, Greece, Hungary and Bulgaria. Each country has a plentiful production without any problems. Watermelons are a cheap sowing alternative. The growers prices at the moment are between 10 and 20 cents in Europe. New developments are the small and yellow watermelons, but sales for these are also limited.”

Supply of Cantaloupe melons is plentiful from Spain and Italy, with the result of low prices and the same is the case for Galia’s. “We can still expect an enormous supply during the next four weeks. It will become a laborious month of August with large volumes again and low prices,” the importer says. “Brazil is already impatient and will come with large volumes at the end of August. Then Europe should make sure that the larger part is off the market.”

Xtend modified atmosphere/modified humidity (MA/MH) packaging for melons is to this day StePac’s flagship product and one with which the company made its first real breakthrough into the fresh produce industry almost 20 years ago.

The preliminary development of Xtend packaging for both Cantaloupe and Galia melons was conducted in Israel, and then fine-tuned and validated in numerous semi-commercial trials in North America, but the real breakthrough in commercial usage of packaging for both Galia and Cantaloupe melons came in Brazil in 1997. At the time, Brazilian melon growers in the Mossoro region in the North East of the country only grew and supplied melons to the local market. It was not economically viable for them to air freight melons to Europe and lack of shelf life and technology for extending it prevented them from sea freighting to Europe. When they were initially approached by StePac, lack of infrastructure and knowledge made them wary. However, groundbreaking work conducted by Ivo Tunchel, Director for StePac, Brazil and the late Ariel Shapiro, a gifted postharvest scientist with many years of experience in the Israeli fresh produce industry, together with calculated risks taken by pioneering growers and exporters paved the way for the development of a flourishing export market for Brazilian growers.

Ivo recalls “We initially approached 2 companies, Maisa and Fazenda São João. At that time the post harvest handling was very poor. There was no knowledge about the how melons should be treated and there was no equipment designed to treat them. Modified atmosphere was totally unheard of and they were apprehensive about packing fruit inside a bag and sending it by boat to Europe. After many static tests with improvised postharvest handling, the companies starting to gain more confidence in the technology and took the risk of sending melons by sea”.

Lack of infrastructure that was noticeable at Brazilian packing houses in the late 90’s

After seeing the encouraging results from the first shipments, recognizing the value that the packaging brings and the commercial breakthrough that it could lead to, the Brazilian companies started listening to Stepac’s advice on improving post-harvest protocols. Ivo recalls “When the customers started using Xtend, there were difficulties in controlling fungal growth on the stem end of the melons. StePac developed a simple but effective way of solving the problem, which is still used today. Due to the way it was being applied on the stem, the distribution of fungicide was non-uniform and not always effective. We tested and showed that a “baby bottle” filled with fungicide and having a sponge plug at the end allowed for local application of the fungicide on the stem end of the melon and assured uniform distribution and consistent dosage (Fig. 2). This technique considerably reduced decay incidence in all subsequent shipments.”

The “baby bottle” technique proved to be most effective for assuring uniform application and consistent dosage of fungicide on the stem end of melons.

Many additional improvements were made at that time and quality of arrivals improved substantially. The Brazilian export market for Galia and Cantaloupe melons had evolved. Today, millions of cartons of Galia and Cantaloupe melons are exported from Brazil every year in Xtend packaging.

Success in Brazil was soon replicated in Central America. Mark Giminez, a postharvest scientist and StePac’s leading melon specialist was instrumental in facilitating this. Agrolibano of Honduras was the first major company in Central America to adopt Xtend technology for exporting Cantaloupes and Galias around the world, employing valuable technical support provided by Mark Giminez. Their success encouraged growers and exporters in other Central American countries including Costa Rica and Guatemala to begin using the technology for maintaining freshness and reducing fruit loss and quality claims in transatlantic shipments as well as for shipments from Central to North America. Today, millions of cartons of Galias and cantaloupes are shipped by sea in Xtend packaging to Europe and North America per year.

As with all Xtend packaging products, achieving consistently good results is dependent not only on packaging but also good pre- and postharvest handling practices including sanitation, efficient cooling techniques and good temperature management throughout the supply chain.

To this day, Ivo and Mark continue to work closely with their customer base, providing them with invaluable advice on postharvest handling and the latest technologies for upgrading their operations and enhancing quality. StePac routinely checks the quality of melons upon arrival to destination markets and reports the findings back to the customers. If necessary, StePac is always on standby to tweak packaging design in order to enhance performance. This has been key to the sustained success of the technology.

Inspections of Galia melons upon arrival at destination markets

In addition, over the years, StePac has worked together with numerous seed companies in a vertically integrated approach to design the most suitable packaging design for preserving freshness of newly developed melon varieties.The advantage of this approach is that it ensures that new high quality varieties are sold together with the most appropriate packaging solutions for maintaining freshness and quality. It also facilitates sales of high quality varieties that their only downfall is a short shelf life and is a point of difference for seed companies and StePac – unlike some competitors, the Seed Company offers postharvest solutions for the harvested fruit or vegetables and unlike other MAP manufacturers, StePac offers tailor made packaging.

Modified Atmosphere/Modified Humidity (MA/MH) Packaging – The Xtend DifferenceXtend patented modified atmosphere/modified humidity (MA/MH) packaging not only provides the optimum gas compositions that slow down respiration, inhibit the action of ethylene and inhibit decay, but also on account of using proprietary blends of polymers characterized by high water vapor transfer rates (WVTR), the packaging eliminates excess moisture (Fig. 5). Excess moisture is conducive for decay and will often necessitate repacking. Different polymers are used for different applications based on sensitivity to moisture and dehydration and the permeability of the film is manipulated to provide optimum gas compositions for the produce and weight to be packed.

On the melon market there is a clear separation at the moment. Sales of watermelons, despite the warm weather, are very difficult. “There is far too much production on the market. For sizes 2/3 50-60 cents is being paid and for thesizes 4/5 45-50 cents. The watermelons are of first class quality, but the supply is too great. In addition to Spain the watermelons come, from Italy, Greece and Albania and other places” a trader says.

“There are more than enough, but the Dutch hardly eat watermelon and the Turks and Moroccans are on holiday or celebrating Ramadan. The Dutch prefer a Galia, Cantaloupe or yellow melon and have also started to eat Piel de Sapo’s more,” the importer continues.

Sales of Galia’s are going extremely well. “The Almeria season was not too good, also because of a lot of rain in north-west Europe. The change to the Murcia seasonwas without problems, but because of the flower setting the melons grew unequally on the plants with many small sizes as a result” the trader says. “Many producers in Murcia, which is traditionally a large supplier of Galia and Cantaloupe, had in their naivety made programs with supermarkets and when they had to supply, the sizes 4 and 5 were not available.”

Up to today there are especially small melons arriving and there are hardly any‘fours’ and ‘fives’ on the market. “But luckily those, because of the nice weather, are sold at a reasonable price. For Galia’s 4-4.50 Euro is asked for the ‘fours’, 5-5.50 for the 5 and 6, 4 Euro for size 7 and 2.50 Euro for size 8. That is a lot of money. For Cantaloupe it’s the same story with an asking price of up to 6.50 Euro for size 4 and 6-7 Euro for sizes 5 and 6.”

The more and more popular Piel de Sapo melons mainly come from the central area Castilla-LA Mancha and are supplied in large volumes. With prices between 11 and 12.50 Euro good money is being paid. But everywhere the weather is good and also cherries, nectarines, raspberries, berries, blackberries and paraguayo’s are plentifully on the market. In two weeks time prices may therefore be quite different.”

The Spanish melon season hasn’t been that rewarding up to now, according to a Belgian trader. “There is a little more action now that the weather is picking up, you can feel it. It has been sunny for a few days and it looks like it will stay nice, so demand is increasing.” The importer has a diverse assortment and admits that there hasn’t been any one variety that is standing out. “It is different day by day.”

“Next to that, it depends on what people want. Customers want the prettiest, best, tastiest or the sexiest melon. Everyone has their own preferences. Long life is good, uniformly yellow, harder, longer shelf life and also ones which are not too bad to eat. If you say: I’m going for taste, you pick a traditional variety. These are not always the prettiest, or perfectly yellow, or have a longer shelf life, but they are tasty. It depends on what you want.”

“It is notable that there are a lot more smaller melons this season. There are quite a few in size 7/8 and not everybody wants that. You could still get away with that in Belgium, by the way. For me, there are too many melons that are a bit too small this season. I prefer selling the fatter ones. We still get around four Euros for sizes 4/5/6, which is more than reasonable. Smaller ones sell for 2 or 2.5 Euros. The fatter ones sell a little bit easier. It’s not that they are left on the shelves, but it is more difficult. There aren’t too many yellow and green ones on the market either. Their sizes are smaller than last season as well. In general, there are smaller sizes for every melon variety.”

Nunhem’s growing European melon sales look set to be boosted even further by two of its products – Magenta Cantaloupe and Kirene Galia.

“Magenta, available all-year-round, is well placed for increasing demand as it is already a universally liked product that will sell anywhere in Europe,” says Claude Guérin, Nunhem’s Produce Chain Specialist for Melons.

Magenta attractionsKey attractions for consumers include its sweet tasting qualities and astonishing Magenta flesh colour, which according to Claude, “breaks all the rules and is unique”.

From a trade perspective, Magenta, which features an unblemished sutured skin with uniform netting, offers a number of major benefits, least of all its easy-to-handle qualities, successfully tolerating supply chain stresses. There’s also less waste than other melons with orange flesh.

Interestingly, in spite of poor growing climatic and growing conditions this spring, the melon still keeps for at least 4-5 days in-store. The flesh also keeps its nice texture, colour and structure during dicing, making it a winner for the fresh cut market.

Kirene’s yellow skin guarantee of ripenessMeanwhile, Kirene, which was launched in 2008, is already taking around a 50% share of some European markets and has the potential to get even bigger.

Kirene’s bright yellow colour acts as a graphic indicator and guarantee of ripeness for both sides of the chain. Growers know precisely when to pick the melon for perfect ripeness and consumers can be confident that they will have 100% satisfaction. It perfectly illustrates Nunhem’s ability to develop products focused around both consumer and growers’ needs.

The melon has been a major breakthrough product for Nunhems, retaining the traditional Galia melon’s properties of fragrance and sweet taste, but with a greatly extended storage and shelf-life, more suited to today’s market needs.

With a juicy texture, it stays firm from the field to the plate, with long shelf and storage life guaranteed.

Its size – typically around 1kg – means that it is also suitable for the fresh cut market.